Preston is Five!

Happy 5th Birthday Preston!

We can't believe he's 5 already. He didn't have preschool on Friday so we took treats to his class on Thursday. I love going to his class because the teachers love him and it's such a positive environment. I hear good things about him, instead of negative things, and I feel like he's appreciated there. It's like a breath of fresh air. Everywhere else they don't "understand" him and it can be hard. His teacher, Mrs. Christine, is always willing to talk to me and help me deal with the challenges that I have with Preston (mainly social issues like sharing toys and playing nice with others- which stresses me out!). 

After Preston handed out his cupcakes, we sang happy birthday to him. We stayed for the teachers to hold Chelsea and then stayed for circle time, of course. Lindsey loved it. 

Preston loves elephants and the color blue. I found some cake ideas online and he picked out which elephant cake he wanted. I was happy with how it turned out. Frosting it took forever. It was a big cake. I made the balloon out of rice krispy treats b/c I didn't have a round bowl to cook cake in. The rice krispy was much easier to frost and the kids ate that better than the cake! Go figure.

Kyle helped me hang tablecloths from the ceiling to make a circus tent feel. (Trust me, he wasn't too excited to help me hang them. haha.) It made it more festive at least.

We had a friend birthday party on Friday afternoon. My amazing Mom drove over just for the day (5 hrs round trip!!!). She was excited to see the kids and she helped me out with his birthday party. I loved having her help and company (plus she brings cute decorations, yummy homemade rolls and bread!).

We had Kate the Clown come visit the birthday party. She was hilarious. What a good sister! This picture makes me laugh every time I see it.

Here is Preston, Jackson Grossarth and Dallin Owens. They were born only a few weeks apart 5 yrs ago. What's crazy is Jackson's family moved out of state for several years for work and school then just happened to move back to this area recently! So here they are together again 5 yrs later. We have a picture at the ward Halloween party of these 3 boys in their carseats as newborns. Other kids were invited, but 2 forgot (oops :)), 1 kid had surgery and 1 kid got sick the day of.

We made paper plate clowns. You can see the example on the table. They did really good with this craft. 

We crawled through tunnels and tents, then walked the tight rope, then finished off by sitting on a whoopie cushion. That was my favorite part. Actually, the kids loved it too, but it made me laugh watching them. Sadly though, the whoopie cushion got a hole. bummer. 

We played hot elephant. :)

Our visiting clown told stories. We also fed the elephant peanuts. I painted an elephant on a cardboard box and they threw peanuts into it.

Then cake time!

For his real birthday on Saturday, Kyle took him and Kate to the Everett Children's Museum in the morning. He wanted to go there to play the trains. Then, we all met up at Olive Garden for lunch. When they heard he chose to go there for his birthday (he loves their breadsticks, I think he ate 3) the manager came over to say "hi" and told us to pick out a dessert for free. We were spoiled! He had a fun day. We love you Preston!